Though earlier versions of the viruses provided some immunity from the virus, Omicron does not supply any, says the latest reports from Imperial College London.
Prof Danny Altmann from the Imperial College’s Department of Immunology and Inflammation, explains that this virus is more surreptitious than the previous variants and hence, is not detectable by the radar, making it difficult for the immune system to remember it. The virus can breakthrough vaccine defenses, and leave very few hallmarks one would expect on the immune system.
Researchers have been trying to comprehend why people become reinfected with omicron, often soon after recovering from an earlier spell of the disease.
A blood collection sample was undertaken from the UK healthcare workers who were triple-vaccinated with different infection patterns in Covid to understand antibody and cellular immunity. The research revealed that for those with no past infection and were triple vaccinated, Omicron provided no immunity against Omicron itself but did provide protection from earlier variants such as alpha, beta, gamma, and the original ancestral strain.
Covid sufferers first affected during the first wave of the virus and then again with Omicron were also found to lack any immunity – a trend titled ‘hybrid immune damping’ by researchers.
The number of Covid-19 deaths in England and Wales has continued to reduce, though that size has been affected by the Jubilee bank Holidays.
The number of deaths has gone down by 55%, with a total of only 186 deaths registered in the seven days to June 3. This is the lowest number since July 2021. This could also be because most registered offices were closed during the bank holiday period, hence, fewer deaths than the normal would have been registered.
